Trailblazers
Susan J. Ellis
Susan J. Ellis was widely recognized for her knowledge, her indefatigable spirit, and her relentless promotion of volunteerism. A prolific writer, Ellis was the author or co-author of 14 books on Volunteer Management. From 1981 to 1987, she was editor-in-chief of The Journal of Volunteer Administration and was founder and editor-in-chief of e-Volunteerism (now Engage) from 2000 to 2019. She wrote more than 120 articles on Volunteer Management for dozens of publications, and wrote the national bi-monthly column, “On Volunteers,” for The NonProfit Times from 1990 to 2015. Read more
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Harriet H. Naylor
Harriet H. Naylor, always known familiarly as "Hat," was one of the true pioneers in the development of Volunteer Program Management as an acknowledged field in the United States. She was consistently focused on: why volunteers are vital to a democracy; what is necessary to create an infrastructure that enables volunteers to do their best work; and how critical it is to strengthen the emerging profession of Volunteer Administration and Engagement. And she was saying these things before anyone else. Read more
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Ivan Henry Scheier
Those who knew Ivan H. Scheier remember him as a cutting-edge thinker, a visionary and a humble, poetic soul who lived simply and cared deeply about the future of volunteering. Scheier was widely known for his citizen participation efforts and his "Challenge Think Tanks." He is also known as the "grandfather" of organizations known as DOVIAs (Directors of Volunteers in Agencies”), "DOV's Associations," "Councils," or "Clusters." Read more
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Marlene Wilson
A true pioneer, Marlene Wilson was the first to take an interdisciplinary approach to Volunteer Management, including basic principles of psychology, communications and business administration. In 1976, she self-published The Effective Management of Volunteer Programs at a time when no publishing house was willing to take a chance on it! Similarly, Wilson was a trailblazer in identifying churches and the rest of the faith community as the “sleeping giant” of volunteerism. One of Wilson's greatest gifts to the field was the creation of the Volunteer Management Certificate program through the University of Colorado in 1972 – the first of its kind in the history of Volunteer Management. Read more
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